Activists to Rally at San Francisco Trump Property to Oppose Attacks on Public Lands

SAN FRANCISCO— Activists will rally outside the Bank of America Building at noon Monday to oppose President Trump’s expected announcement that he’s making significant cuts to at least two national monuments. Trump is part-owner of the building.

The rally is one of dozens of events planned during the Save Our National Monuments Week of Action, with thousands of people participating in actions across the country to defend national monuments.

What: Save Our National Monuments Week of Action Rally

Where: Bank of America Building, 555 California St., San Francisco

When: 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Monday

Who: California residentsand members of the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Golden Gate Audubon Society and Great Old Broads for Wilderness

Background
In April Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review the designation of 27 national monuments ― those larger than 100,000 acres protected since 1996. His goal was to trigger dramatic changes in monument protections or boundaries to allow fossil fuel development, logging, mining and other development on these public lands. More than 2.8 million people wrote to the Interior Department urging the administration to preserve protections for these iconic places.

National monument designations have protected some of the most spectacular public landscapes in the country from fossil fuel extraction, mining and logging. Dozens of the nation's most treasured national parks were first protected as monuments, including Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Acadia and Olympic national parks.

“Trump is trying to illegally seize our public lands for private profit and we won’t stand for it,” said Ash Lauth with the Center for Biological Diversity. “An attack against one monument is attack on all of them. Trump and anti-public lands members of Congress are ignoring millions of Americans who want national monuments and public lands protected, not auctioned off to the highest bidder.”

“The move by Trump and Zinke to reduce these monuments is illegal and irresponsible,” said Amy Kaplan, of Great Old Broads for Wilderness. “These national monuments, which are sacred ground to First Nations peoples, can only be undeclared as monuments by an act of Congress, as defined by the 1906 Antiquities Act.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.5 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a national grassroots organization that engages and ignites elders to preserve and protect wilderness and wild lands. Conceived by older women who love wilderness, Broads gives voice to the millions of older Americans who want to protect their public lands as Wilderness for this and future generations.